THE EXILE'S DAUGHTER,

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 9892, 19 January 1895, Page 6

THE EXILE'S DAUGHTER,

BY JOSEPH HATTON, Author of " Otuel London," " Olytie," "Three Recruits," "Under the Great Saul," " By Order of the Czar," &0., &o. [ALL EIGHTS BEBERVED.] CHAPTER XV.— Continued. "Iwilli lass, Bin you've told me all ' that's bapp'd." " I have," Bald the girl, drying ber ■ eyes and sitting once more comfortably and unrestrained by the old man's side. "I towd Mr Lathkill that me and yonr grandmother — ." "Never mind her," said Adser, inter- ■ znptitfg him. "But we'n gotten to mind her," he . answered, " she's yonr grandmother." "On my lathers side, and I don't ' value that. On the contrary, I- " " Bat my dear lass " "It's no use talking, Zodaok," said the girl, " she's nivver a good word to • itty form J mother, and only, yesterday ■hetowd me what she has towd me a ' , thousand times, but yesterday more " bitter, that my mother was't ruin of her "'"ion, tha't.'s'h'e'waßna' good enough to be - liii r wifeV and that she had only been • ' ' miff brioe and itiat was Iwer sin' I were 'born that I favonred my mother i* my looks and riot my father." . "There's she wrong, my lass,' said Zodaek, drawing her head upon his shoulder and stroking her hair, "thon'rt like thy fiuther, lass, though yo'vo gotten yonr mother's eyes and ha(r." "/Then I wish I waßna one bit like him ;:a nice father, to leave my mother iodie.and me .to. starve tot all ,he oared — nsjf. donnat ; shake' your head, yon . know you've towd me so youreelf, and Treganon Knows it, and Nanie Blythe is a hard, cruel old lot, and you know . .thit-1" Adser drew her head away and Stiffened herself and planted her feet - r fj'rmlynpon tho ground. "It's true a' youVe said, Adaer, but it may have been for the best." " Nay, tbafffjtgjnst what yon've said yourself, that noWmg that's bad and wrong can happen for the best." j "Donnat be angry, Adeer, come lass,, anyhow you know I love yon." ■••" "I do," she said, once more leaning towards him, " but what did you say to Mr Lathkill P" " I said it wasna a wise thing for you to go to th' Laurels, It mokes folks talk, and that yonr good name was dear to us, that yon were the jewel we most cherished, and that you'd been tried on the wheel, as one might say, and no flaw found, and——" " You couldna trust me, that's what you Bald," and she rose to her feet. " No, it warns," said Zodaokj rising, too, " but I said we couldoa trust him." " You did ! " "Aye," said Zodaek, " I did." "And yon made me as cheap as that!" " No, I dldna cheapen yon." " You did when you said that," Adser replied. "Sic down, Adser," said the old man, his lip quivering, bis voloe hard and commanding as Adser had never heard it before. They were both having new experiences of each other. " I willno," she said. "Sit down," said Zodaek. "I willna," she answered, facing him. " Now I know that I said what wbb right and wise and in time," said Zodaok; "he's come between yo and me, and he's come between your heart and freedom, between thin cottage and the great world, he's been telling yo of London snd fine cities aad what he calls life and pleasure." - "He hasna, what's come to you Zodaok 1 -. " Nay, what's come to thee, lass ? " "No'wt'scom&tome." "Sit down, then." ; "Not when you speak to me' like Nanie, Blytbe — if yon go against me, Zodaol I'll " She. did not finish toe sentence, but put out her hand appealingly to Zodaok, who bent over it and kissed it, and again drew the girl towards him and they sat 'down once more together. "I know you are upset," he Bsid "and that's something unusual, and yo are innooent of so many 'things, but yo nran trust to me, Adser, I'm not the man to cheapen yo, and I'm not the man to let anybody else do It, bnt listen to me, Adser, my lass, my daughter ! " " Dear Zodaek 1 " murmured the girl. ~ n Your father's coming back, my lass, donnat interrupt me, I know you never want to see him, I know you think it 1 in old story, I know all that, bat I know more than I've towd you, more than I've towd your grandmother, and .in this I've aoted upon' bis instruotionß. Five years ago I heard from him in some wild region of America, hi a letter enclosed two hundred pounds, I was to use it for you and your grandmother if either on yo needed it ; If not I was to put it i' ba.nk for his child, his dear deserted child, them were his words." " I don't value them," said Adser, " nor his money." "I know," continued Zodaok. " heard no more' for two years, then beT wrote to say he 1 was mined, otherwise be had hoped to become rich, but for all that he sent a hundred pounds in a piece of scrip on Soandale Bank ; another year paused, he wrote he was ■ getting on again, and two hundred more came, wl' the same inßtruotfona, to say no*t to yon nor his mother about the money unless yo needed it ; and I want to show yo something ; exouse me a minute—" "Yes, Zodaok; but I'm waiting to hear all that you said to Mr Lathkill, and what he said when yon said you couldna trust him ; you'd no right to say that." "All in good time, Adser," said Zodaok as he disappeared behind his blue curtain. She followed him with her eyes until he disappeared, and then looked round the room with a sigh, which was an unconsoioua farewell to all the old girlish unsophisticated feelings which in the past had meant bo much unoonsoioai happiness to her, and her thoughts wandered away to the Laurels, with an interest keener than any intetest she had ryet felt in mortal being. Zodaok came forth with two small case* la his hand. "Now, lass, you see this bit of pebble," he said. ■ He rolled it over in the palm of his band. "Felspar," she replied indifferently. Zodaek took it up between bis flsger and thumb and held it up to the light. " Alabaster," said the girl. "No," said Zodaek, his eyes fixed upon the pebble, "Limestone," said Adser, laughing,

languidly, nnd with an idea that Zodaok was only trying to lead her away from the sub]eot neareßt her heart. " It's a diamond In the rough," Bald Zodaok, fingering it lovingly. " Your father, Jcssop Blythe, has sent it to me to -oat, but my tools will not touch it; it takes a diamond to out a diamond." "Is that all?" said Adser. "Diamond mates with diamood, gold with gold; do yo know as gold willna have nowt to do i' the earth wi' baser metal, copper, lead, and the like 1 " " What's that got to do wl f what you eaidtoMrLathkili?" "Well, it has something to do wi' it, though I doanat soa my way at the moment to say what," answered Zodaok, looking into the girl's face from beneath his busby eyebrows. •• Oh," Adßer. " It's worth a big sum of money that bit of Btone," Baid Zodaok, replacing it in its oaße, and putting both into one of his many pookets. "But I'vo gotten another you'll like best," "I don't want to talk about uuoh things," aaid Adser. "Excuse me, love, but you will," said Zudaok ; " come here and sit by me. 1 ' He took her hand. Sho Btepped down from her ohair. Zodaclr. placod a cushion in the corner of the settle. Adsor sat. Zodaok took bis plaoe by her olde. Then he drew from his jacket pooket— his jaoket had all kinds of pookets inside and oat — another caso. "It came by post." he said ; " registered and insured. I had to aign quite a document for it." *' Oh," said Ad«er. The corner of the snglonook was deftly chosen for displaying the contents of the second ease. The hood of the settle partly shaded the sun bo that tho beam of light fell upon Zodaok and Adser, ; leaving 'shadows all around them. Zodaok brought ont a small piece of blaok velvet and laid it in the palm of his hand, then opened the case and poured upon it two great sparkling liquid drops of petrified crystal, flambuoyant dewdropu with reminiscences of the rainbow in their hearts, and the sua 'straightway fell upon them as if to absorb them, but they only flashed the more, and Zodaok rolled them about and it seemed to Adser as if they would run together and become one and scatter at last as she had seen blobs on the brook. " Oh ! " the girl exolalmed. It was not her usual indefinite "Oh," but a little ory of sudden surprise and delight. "I knew they'd astonish you," said Zodack. I've been like a child wi' 'em myself, looking at 'em from this aide, and then from that, getting my lens on them ; nay I donnat wonder at folks feighting about them and women goln' mad about them." " Do they fight about them ? " asked Adaer, her deep blue eyes bent upon them. " Wars and murders and sudden deaths and tieaoheries unheard of, my dear ! I've always towd you that suoh crystal things aa I've cut into brooches Is as a rabbit bnrrow to High Peak Cavern or a ruablight to the sua compared with a pure white diamond." " Yes," said Adser. " L know. I've never seen aught so beautiful. They'd drive Sol Tiduer wild." " Diamonds have driven many a saner man wild, but yo'r reight, Sol's mightily set on bright stones and bltn of Blue John, Spa shavings, sparkles of ooloured glaas; well It shows that he's got an unoonscious appreciation of colour, poor darkened soul. He'il be glad to see yonr father again. The lad doesn't look aoy older than he was twenty years ago — a mind at ease I suppose being a mind unoccupied. ' "Put them into my band," said Adaer, taking no note of Zodaok' a remarkß. Zodack laid the stones in her open generous palm, without the velvet upon whioh thoy had laid in his. "They're beautiful," she said, " aud how cold, though you'd think there was fire in thorn." " They are yours, Adser," ho aaid, taking her hand and closing her fingers over them. "I will not tell you how much they are worth ; there's many a beautiful thing that's worth nowt to sell." She opened her hnnd, and looked first at tho diamonds and then at Zokaok. "It's quite true, my dear, they are yours." " How do you mean they're mine ?" "Your father's sent them for you." " I don't want them," sbe said ; " take them baok." " But " " Take them baok," she said, firmly. He opened his hand. She poured them into his hard palm. " Adser, do you know what you're refusiog P" " Put them baok into the box." "Your father didna mek them any more than I mob the bits of stone I out, and which we all love to look at," said Zodaok, putting the oase into his pooket. "But he sent them, and I doo't want nowt belonging to him." " But, my dear, be reasonable." "lam." " Nay, loss, you're not. Tour father's a rioh man ; he wants to mek up to you the wrong he's done In the past ; he's coming home ; this time for sure." "Very well," said Adeer; "but you haven't told me what Mr Lathkill said to you." " I'm coming to it ; you oannot rightly understand our conversation until you know what I've got to tell you about yonr father ; I want to read you something from two newspapers he's sent me — American newspapers— and then we oau talk freely about Mr Lathkill." " Very well," said Adser. CHAPTER XVI. —LIGHT FROM THE "KANSAS MOONBEAM." " Now, love, sit i 1 th' easy ohair and mek yourself comfortable," said Zodaok, rising from his plaoe and taking the girl's hand quite ceremoniously. Adaer instead of vaulting Into her familiar throne with a langh, as was onßlomary with her. permitted herself to be assisted, which, pleased the old man greatly. "That's right," he aaid, "it's a strange story, I'll promise you; quite a romanoe." Then he pushed aside tho books and geological specimens on the manylegged round table, and drew from one of his numerous pookets two newspapers. He unfolded them and spread them out, one over tho other, upon the table. Adser watched him with her thoughts far away, but held together with the one question, what had Zodack Bradford said to Mr Geoffrey Lathkill. "Now then," said Zodaok, drawing a ohair up to the table. "I want your undivided attention. These papers were sent me by yonr father. The first one is called the Kansas Moonbeam. It doesn't look much like a moonbeam. The moon's a restful planet; this one's a dazzling dot-and-go-one kind o thing that makes your eyeß blink; it's news Is top heavy wi' titles, and It seems to shout like show folks at Oastleton Fair, ' Walk up ! walk up ! Alive, alive ! The only show in the Fair.' But that's nowt to do wi' the atory ; it's certainly a startling affair." With whioh introduction Zodack read the following artiole : — " After dinner at the Palmer House last night ' the king of diamonds ' settled his bill and bought a first- olass ticket to Topeka. Then he jumped into a coupe* and was driven to the depot. His hundred and eight diamonds wont with him. "His name Is Aduer— plain Jim Adser— and he is British born. He

came to this country nigh upon twenty yeara seo, and was first in Bt the Bluffs when the boys struck silver. In the preceding fights with the Indians ho was the most dare-devil of all the frontiersmen. Until he strilok the lead which has made othors rich besides himself he was rarely ever sober. He could drink the heads offany dozen native Amorioans. Bat the day bo got his British baud on the raotal be stopped drinking and became respectable. Though he's an Englishman he's cot nil the habits and good qualities of the free land of America. He's one of the boys, and he married one of the girls. She was all his fancy painted her, and they kept house on a fine Boalo in Kansas City. She gave high-toned parties, and he was welcome everywhere, a hearty, pleasant, free, open- handed citizen ; no i British Bide, no blufliDg, a genuine oldtimer in his sentiments and opinions. Furthermore in the way of making himself popular ho could singagoodsong.aud one in particular wbloh is the composition of our own American poet Payne, ' After many roving years. Daring the Indian fighting the boys delighted to get him to whistle to them, and ho W63 never too drunk to warble equal to any of the professionals who havo yet held the concert 3tng* in Kansas City. He has caught the practical spirit of our country down to a dot in regard to pur labour-saving maohinery and institutions. In the gorgeous Orient the Sultana and P«shns and other big bosses never danoo themselves, they just hire women to do that for thorn while they ait and smoke the hookah. Well, Jim, he's a bit of an Oriental in bis way, as well as a practical Americanised oitizen of the great West, Ho carries a musical boxVith him. It is a wonderful ooncern of its kind ; wbb invented, it seems, by a young German whom Jim befriended, and who is building a faotory in Chioßgo to turn out a thousand boxes a week. It Ib different from the ordinary thing in the faot that it has sets of discs, each with a different tune, and one box will go on playing until the Angel Gabriel sounds the last trump If It is only supplied with disos enough, and there is no reason why you shouldn't, Jim says, get a waggon load of them In time. In return for Jim's help the inventor made him a speolal collaotion of the tunea he likes, and dow he says it aint necessary for him to whistle ; he makes the bos whistle for him, and its got all his favourite tunes — 'After Many Roviog Tears,' 'Happy L»nd,' ' Home, Sweet Home,' ' The Men of Harlech,' ' Hail, Smiling Morn, 1 and a heap of othern. It certainly is a great invention, and Jim takes the box to bed with him and it sings him to sleep ; he's a great old baby is this British American , you bet ! " " Funny, isn't it," said Zodaok, looking np at Adser. " Do you think it's true P " " Oh," snid Adser, "it seema strange that Jessop Blythe should have snob a thing." "Do you think soP" said Zodack, "bnt not stranger .than the diamonds. He had a carious kind of a streak in his composition ; something that, I suppose, had no chance to penetrate the density of bis intellectual epidermis, as learned folk would say." " I don't know what you mean," said . Adser. "It doesn't matter, love ; let's go on with our American p.ewijpaper, it is as interesting as a romance." He bent over the Kansas record once more and read as follows : — ■ " And now comes the curious part of Jim's oharacter, a touch of that old stocking idea of Bnanoo that is not unknowu in New England, but is foreign to tho manners and and customs of this more enlightened State of the Union. The old country is full of stockings, and in France every oottager boasts one, bo that tho enterprislng_tuirf»lftr when ho iB on thejaujf-frattrEair a right good old time in tho outlying gloom of on effete civilisation. Some years ago they emptied their Btockings into Lesseps' canal, and now tho old hose is beginning to fill up again ready for tho next war indemnity. But to return to Jim Adser ; we are sorry to keep him waiting. Ho has been a widower ton years, and new he wears a pair of diamond garters. No, they were not his wife's nor any other woman's. He had them made for himself. He sold his wife's diamonds and put tho proceeds into a New York bank. But that is an incident by the way. Jim's garters constitute an important part of his possessions. If ever a man deserved (he tltlo of 'diamond king' thai; man is this self-same Jim Adser, fifth-share-ownor of the Silver Mine at the Bluffs. His manly form is literally studded with diamonds, and hia surplus supply is encrusted in his tobacco pouch, not where you can seo them — ob, no, Jim knows better than that. Jim has no faith in banks and cafe. deposit companies. His dividends from the mine, payable monthly, are invested in United States bonds, nnd nobody knows whore he keeps bis scrip ; but every thousand dollars that cornea to him in cash, either from interest on the bonds or from his ordinary business undertakings— and he has many — are turned into diamonds. He has been indulging in this strange fanoy for over seven years. When he buys a diamond he hai it sot in a golden button, which he aews into a part of his clothing where it cannot be seen. He has in all a hundred and eight of these preoiouß buttons, averaging all round about four carats, the whole worth over a hundred thousand dollars. " Some seven or eight years ago there was a panic in New York. The Empire City gets off this kind of Gnanoiaf raoket now and again. A bank in which Mr Adser had accumulated on deposit and in shares two hundred thousand dollars busted, and he didn't get out of the fifo a single red cent. 80 the AngloAmerican, after going on a bender— his very last— came to the conclusion that he would novor trust banks again unless he should return to the old country with money enough to open an account at the Bank of England. A friend advised him that he could do that from here ; be conld remit- through an American bank ; bnt much as he had learnt on this sido the ferry tho Britisher had still got the stocking streak in his nature, and he deolinod to truat an Amerloan bank even as a medium of communication. ' Then what wili you do ? ' asked his pal. ' I'll buy diamonds,' he said, ' and keep 'em "out of sight.' 'In a stocking?' asked the other. ' No, I guess I'll iaveßt in a pair of garters that I'll have weltod above the knoe, so that they'll never oome off. 1 His pard thought he had gone mod ; but he hadn't, or if he had thero was a good deal of madnesß in it. With his first thousand ho bought a pure white diamond, had it sot in a button, and himself stitohod tho button with a oordwaincr's neodlo and throad upon his garter — a curious idea, bnt ho's a ouriom chnp is Jim Adser. And bo Old Tirao rolled on, When tho garters wora full, Jim decorated his belt; whon he thought he had enough thero he lined his waistcoat with tho flashing jewels ; then he worked somo iuto bis tobacco pouch, and a few under the lining of his hat. " Last night he had an unonsy fit on him ; thought ho was being laid for. It would go hard with any thief who attempted Jim. With the strength of a giant he cornbinoß tho roadineim of a 1 pioneer. De would shoot before a fellow could wink ; but us wo sny he felt uneasy, a»d ho hotfis boing nallod upon to defend himself ; so he concluded to put his things in the hotel safe. He thoreforo takes off his garters, his waist, coat, his belt, and his folt hat (there were half a dozen stones in the ctown

of If), nnd goes to the hotel olerk, and he soys, "I want to put my waitstooat, my garters, my hat, and my belt in the hotel safn. Give mo a cliedk and I Will ooir> B down for them in the morning. 1 "You could have knocked the hot'l clerk over with the breath of a halfgrown oanary. A lodger who wanted the safe opened upon snch a protence was either s a thief or ft lunatic. Tho olerk jilnced odq hand over his gleaming shirt-stud and allowed his other hand to go 011 a quiet hunt for the burglar til urn). He could only stammer out • Did you soy wnistooat nnd garters P ' " Adser could not persuade the olerk Iliat everything waa right and proper until ho undid the bundle and showed tho glistening baubles which the articles o£ apparel contained. Of oourso the olerk thorenpon pat the preoiom goods in the safe find guve Adser the check. "Just before Adsor started for Topoka last night he waa interviewed by a reporter. He talked a good deal about his diamonds, and then pleaded that the the reporter should keep the story out of papers. Bnt the story was too good for an amiable compliance with, the request. " ' However,' he said at parting, 'if I get back to New York all right I shall go to tho British Oonaal and see if I can't got the security of his Government somo way for my money, and thnn — ' "He pnnsed and smiled. The reporter all alert flsid, • Yes, and then ? ' ii • Well, I guess that's my own secret nt present,' Adser replied, and nothing tho rnporter conld say or do would induce the diamond king to explain what was tho nature of his secret." Zodaok folded np the newspaper, nnd as he laid it on one side he looked at Adser. She had made a comfortable corner for herself in tho great old chair, squeezing all the cushions together, and tuoking her feet between the upper bar and the seat. When Zidaok turned his eyes upon her she was rnbbicg the arm of the chair with her open left hand. Zodaek feared she had heard the story with indifference ; but it had interested her. " A carious story, Adser, eh P " " He must have been as silly as Sol Tidser," she aaid. " Why, trampa that come to Castleton Saturdays would have had that waistcoat." "Do you know, Adser, it struck me i 1 that way ; but you see yonr father carried pistols, and was a strong man." "My father?" said Adaer. "I thought his name was Jim Adser." " He took that name, it seems, when he went to America; but he was yonr father all the »ame." "Oh!" SBld Adser. " Yon'll hear what he has to Bay about that i' this other paper." " Very well," said Adser resignedly. " I'll tell you about Mr Lathkill all in good time," said Zodaek, " but it'a my duty to let yo see the bald facts, but it seemed to me you'd like to Know inside of th' whole business P " He put this to Adser interrogatively, and waited her answer. "Yes, Zodaok Bradford, and thank you; but I've not heard anything at present that is likely to mek me ohange my opinion of the man who is my fayther." " But yo may,' said Zodaok, " and yon're his heiress, mind you, Adser ; you're a rich woman, as well off, may be, as Mr Lathkill, and perhaps better off ; for in his letter to me, whioh is private most of it, he Bays he wishes to settle on you during his lifetime twenty thousand pounds, to mek you independent. That's at least eight hundred pounds a year, Adser; and he will do this ho says whether you hate him or love him, or whatever 'yo may think of him, and If yo hate him it'll mek no differeuce. And I think, Adser, that is noble conduct," " It ißna like him," said Adsor. " 1 "I vo been a brute," he writes to mo, 1." but I knowed tho good sort I wbb leaving my child amongst, not as I wish to defend myself ; but I will not wait 1 to know whether she despises mo or . not. I shall make this settlement on '• my daughter before I leave New York. And he has done it." , Zodaok pansed. Adser did not speak. " Don't you understand P " " Yes," she said. ■ "Yon are worth twenty thousand ■ pounds." , "Yes." " You are a match for any man." ; "Is that what Mr Lathkill said ? " " No, I did not Bpeak of that to Mr . Lathkill." ' " Oh," said Adßer. | "You are overcome with this great . news my child," Bald Zodaok. i "Am I P "she said. "It took my breath away." i "Did it," said Adser. , " But you'll get over it by and bye. Let me read you this other pßper." He took up a copy of the New York Herald. "It begins with a heap of headings or titles like this — ' The Diamond King Abdioates— The Strango Story of Jim Adser, otherwise Jesaop Blyfche — An Anglo-American Romance— The Hero starts for Home with Vouchers for a Million Dollars — Curious Combination of Shrewdness and Simplicity. 1 Then It prints from the Kansas Moonbeam the article I have just read to you. Are you listening, Adser?" " Yes, Zodaok," she answered. "And following the Kansas report it goes on ia this way : — " ' Yes,' said Mr Jim Adser, • It's all true enough what you've read me from the Kansas Moonbeam, though I didn't want them to print It, When I picked up tho paper and saw that they'd given me away it made me hurry up a plan I'd already formed. And that's why I'm in New York two weeks earlier than I expeoted." " The Anglo • American speaks s peculiar dialeot of the West mixed with an English provlneialiazn. He is a frank-looking man of something over fifty, with grey hair and a bead that is perfectly white. His complexion is tanned with the weather, but ruddy ; the face recalls pictures of the Viking stamp, and he is a well-built fellow, with a Rteady eye and reposeful manner. The Serald man found him In his room nt the Gllaey House, and ho was smoking a small blaok pipe. Ho doea not drink himself, but he invited the ' Herald ' man to partake of some wine, and ordered a bottle of dry champagne, over which and a cigarette the Press chatted with ' the diamond king.' " ' Then you have converted the diamonds into specie?' asked the reporter. " ' I took the Consul's advice, and he had nndertakon to convoy my money to the Bank of England. No, I have not sold out my intoroßt in the mine at the Bluffs). Tho Consnl advised mo not. I never come upon a more obliging man than the Consul. It wasn't his business, he said, but as countryman to countryman he would see me through the thing. I told him the whole of ray story, and we quite took to eaoh other ; I moan to get him to accept something for Iris trouble, though he was angry when I mentioned it.' You soy you- told him the whole of your story P "Won't you tell it to me P' "Oh, I don't know that Ive any objection ; no reason why all tho world shouldn't know, if It wants to. My name isn't Jim Adser at all. Adser is a family name. Jim was the Christian name of my father. And my only daughter is called Adser. She was a baby when I left England ; hadn't evon boon chrlstoncd, but IVo a friend out yonder who's told me things once in a wny, and be nays my daughter is the lovelieat and the beat girl that ever lived. 1 " (.To he continued.)